Flamborough Lighthouse at Flamborough Outer Headland

Tours of the Flamborough Lighthouse are available, they last approximately 20 minutes.

A lighthouse was first built on the Flamborough Headland in 1669 but was never lit. The current lighthouse was built in 1806 and acts as a waypoint for deep sea vessels and coastal traffic as well as marking the Flamborough Headland for vessels heading for the ports of Scarborough and Bridlington.

The two lighthouses can be found at Flamborough Head. The old 'lighthouse' is set a short distance back from the sea, the 'new' one is built on the cliff edge.

The chalk tower is the only surviving light tower in England; Spurn's Seventeenth lighthouses may have looked like this. It was designed for a brushwood fire to have been burnt on top, although it is unknown whether or not it was ever lit. The octagonal tower has several windows and a ground floor fireplace so it was possible lived in.

It was 130 years before a lighthouse was built on Flamborough. The 'old' lighthouse was built after over 170 ships had been wrecked off the headland in 36 years. In 1925 it was made taller to fit a new 15 foot lens and converted from oil to electricity in 1940.

It has a range of 24 nautical miles and is one of only 72 lighthouses still in use around Britain's coast today. Now it is fully automated.


The Light Tower
Built: 1674
Height: 78ft (24m)
Steps: 98
Made of: Chalk
Commissioned by: Sir John Clayton
Location: Flamborough Headland
Access: Open in summer.

The Lighthouse
Built: 1806
Height: 88ft (27m)
Steps: 119
Made of: Brick
Designed by: Sir Samuel Wyatt
Built by: John Matson of Bridlington
Location: Flamborough Headland
Access: Still in use. Open to public Easter to October.